Anger in America

Both liberals and conservatives are furious and are pounding each other in vicious ways.

The John Kerry controversy has set off a firestorm on the right. The initial voting on BillOReilly.com — our poll question asks whether Kerry intentionally meant to demean the military — shows a deep-seated resentment towards the senator for his perceived anti-military bias.

On the left, the hatred of President Bush has reached hysterical proportions. Hyper-liberals hate him because of his aggressive anti-terror strategies, Iraq and his faith-based point-of-view.

In the middle are Americans who are not ideologues, who simply want the best plan, the best people and the best outcome for their country.

It is here where next Tuesday's election will be decided.

Talking Points believes that most of these people will not vote at all. They're not going to show up. That's because many Americans are deeply conflicted and some are downright disgusted.

On the one hand, we have not secured Iraq after three and a half years and hope is not a policy.

It's not the fault of our military, it's the Iraqi people who are the problem. They are simply not doing enough to stop the bad guys in their midst.

After the Taliban was defeated, the Afghanis didn't start killing each other, did they? But in Iraq the death squads are destroying any semblance of freedom.

So what do we do? Leave Iraq to Iran and the terrorists? We might have to, but that would mean another very vicious battlefield somewhere down the road.

So Americans are faced with one party that hasn't defeated the enemy in Iraq and another party that has no anti-terror strategy and is dominated by far-left zealots like Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi — people who believe the USA is the problem in the world.

Faced with those two choices, Talking Points believes there will be a low turnout on Tuesday with many independents and apathetics staying home. That scenario would help the Republicans, who need all the help they can get.

But no matter what happens next Tuesday, one thing is very clear: America is a divided nation and our enemies know it.

And that's The Memo.

Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Anti-American college professor Ward Churchill, who is about to get the boot from the University of Colorado, is demanding the University pay his legal bills.

Churchill petitioned a Denver court to order C.U. to fork over $20,000 for Churchill's lawyer and other expenses. For a guy who hates capitalism, this Churchill is certainly focused on money, isn't he? The taxpayers of Colorado are still paying the man almost $100,000 to do nothing.

Which may be ridiculous or it may be worth it — at least he's out of the classroom.

—You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to:oreilly@foxnews.com